1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeding device for feeding recording media from within a loaded storage case to a feeding device when a plurality of recording media such as films and recording sheets are contained within the storage case, and a recording apparatus for recording information on the recording media.
2. Description of the Related Art
High image quality at a level comparable to silver halide films is now demanded of color inkjet printers. In order to achieve this quality, it is fundamental that one must eject an extremely small amount of ink with high accuracy. Furthermore, not only inkdrops but also devisal in recording media is also necessary and in order to express silver film shades, various kinds of recording media having surfaces such as a super glossy, glossy, and mat (pearl) surface have been developed corresponding to users"" preferences.
Different surface states of recording media generally make for different color development requirements. Therefore, it is generally necessary to change color image processing and printing ink volume for each kind of recording media to be optimized. A selection of parameters for optimization is performed by a printer driver that is software stored in a personal computer (referred to below as a PC) such as a host computer connected to a printer. However, the operation to select and set parameters for a recording medium to use at present is manually performed by a user. Therefore, in order to record information with a printer, the user must select and set the type of recording medium, on which information is to be recorded, on a setting screen of the printer driver.
As for the size of the recording medium, there are various forms, such as an L-form, which is a so-called service size of a silver halide film, a double L-form, which is double the size of the L-form, and a postcard form, corresponding to various uses, and the size is also set on a setting screen manually by the user.
Loading the recording media on the printer requires one to directly touch unpacked and bared recording media (referred to as a naked medium below) with one""s hand to replenish the printer with the required number of the recording media.
As described above, it has been difficult and troublesome for inexperienced users to select the specification of the recording media, such as a type and a size, on a setting screen of the printer driver.
The need for printing image data shot with a digital camera without connecting the printer to a PC is increasing recently, so that also gradually increasing is the need for printers which are capable of using the printer in a non-connected state to the PC by directly connecting the digital camera to the printer or by directly inserting a memory card having image data shot and stored therein into the printer.
When the recording media are printed with a printer not connected to a PC, various operations are performed on a display screen of the printer or the digital camera. However, the display screen of the printer and the digital camera are each small in view of portability and manufacturing cost, so that it may be difficult in viewing the screen to select the recording media as described above.
Touching naked recording media before recording with a user""s hand may soil a recording surface such as a glossy surface with finger marks and will have a bad influence on the recording quality.
In normal operational situations of the printer, it is to generally necessary to switch the recording media from normal sheets to recording media corresponding to photographic shades (referred simply to as photographic shade media below). After printing photographic shade media, the remaining unused photographic shade media must be stored in an original containing bag to prevent them from bad influence due to dust and external light.
Furthermore, it is convenient to easily switch on demand from normal A-4 size sheets to photographic shade media with an L-shape stored in a container. There have been individual printers specialized for each of the media, whereas there is no printer having one feeding mechanism that can correspond to both the normal sheets and the L-shaped photographic shade media.
Such a printer may be achieved by arranging respective feeding inlets corresponding to the two types of recording media, each inlet being provided with each specialized feeding mechanism; however, manufacturing cost is increased and the entire printer obviously becomes large in size.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a feeding device and a recording apparatus, both enable a plurality of recording media and a plurality of recording media contained in a storage case to be excellently fed, respectively.
In accordance with these objects, there is provided a feeding device for feeding recording media comprising a loading unit adapted to allow one of a plurality of recording media and a storage case having a plurality of recording media contained therein to be selectively loaded thereon and feeding means for feeding the recording media from the loading unit.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a recording apparatus for recording information on recording media comprising a loading unit adapted to allow one a of plurality of recording media and a storage case having a plurality of recording media contained therein to be selectively loaded thereon, a recording unit, and feeding means for feeding the recording media from the loading unit to the recording unit.
Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.